In the Definitive Technology Owners Thread, the Mythos comments seem few and far between compared with the bipolar line comments; hence, this thread. Please feel free to post any comments/questions/pictures regarding the Definitive Technology Mythos line of speakers. There is a very helpful group on this thread that answers questions quickly, so please jump right in!

Here are some links to infomation on the Mythos Line: (If you have any links to add, please PM me)

** From Def Tech (via jgeorg5): "These measurements were taken [in the DT anechoic chamber] with a microphone placed 1 meter away from the front of the speaker (which was placed on the floor). There was no reflective sound from the walls. However, there was a sound reflection from the floor."

Using Mythos Ones for the front R/L and Mythos Three for center channel:

Mythos Twos for the side surrounds and Gem XL's for the rear surrounds:

Using the Epik Castle subwoofer built into the space under the stairs (girlfriend acceptance factor):

Very happy with the setup and it is rather unobtrusive and looks very nice. I am using 10 gauge Blue Jeans speaker wire and locking banana plugs throughout. I am using a Sony BDP 550 BluRay player and a Sony STR DA5300ES AV receiver feeding a Sony 52" XBR LCD. I'm using the CLOS remote motorized TV mount.....love it. I have an Emotiva UPA7 amplifier that I will be hooking up this weekend.

I was wondering if there were enough interest from Mythos owners to discuss this line of speakers in a separate thread. (Perhaps there are more of you now since many of the aluminum finished speakers have gone on sale at the end of 2008.)

What is the sale on the aluminum speakers? Are they being discontinued?

I was at my local store on the weekend because I'm very close to buying a Mythos STS x2, Mythos 3, and Mythos Gem XL x2, and the guy didn't mention anything about a discount for the aluminum finish. I didn't purchase anything because they actually increased the price of the STS from $3500 to $4000 (this is CDN $$$) since last month.

I noticed the last week of October, many of the on-line authorized Def Tech dealers were marking down the aluminum finish Mythos speakers compared with the black finish.

When I inquired to Def Tech directly, I was told by a Def Tech customer support person that: "The Mythos Two Silvers are discontinued", which he implied was the reason for the discount.

I do not know the exact status of the others in the line, and I have also noticed (as you pointed out) the STS and ST lines do not show the aluminum price difference compared to the black.

Subsequently, I have noted that some of these same dealers no longer have some of the aluminum finish Mythos speakers in stock (although I have been successful in getting one dealer to order 3 of the Mythos 8's for me). The discounts for the aluminum finish for the non-ST/STS Mythos speakers persist at this time.

Hope that helps.

(I have read the STS's are very, very nice (Stereophile seemed to love them in their review).)

Glad to see this tread. I've thought about starting one, but was too lazy. The main DefTech thread is fine, but Mythos discussion gets buried, as there don't seem to be many of us compared to owners of the "regular" DefTech lines.

FWIW, I have a pair of STS's in front and a Mythos Three in the center. I'm absolutely thrilled with them. For me, the reviewers' extravagant praise seems to be fully justified.

Previously, I had tried many speakers over the years and became convinced I'd never get high quality sound in my room, which is an acoustical nightmare (all glass and hard surfaces, even a concrete floor; no draperies, leather furniture, only a small area rug, open to a kitchen ). I now have a HT system that is competitive with (although very different from) my older, music only system (McIntosh, Luxman, etc.) which is installed in a much more acoustical friendly environment.

The rest of my HT system consists of a pair of SVS subs controlled by a Velodyne SMS-1 (yielding flat response below 15Hz) and four legacy Cambridge Soundworks Newton speakers in the rear. I remain of mixed mind about "upgrading" the rears to Gem XL's, as I'm unconvinced I'd hear much of an improvement, at least not proportionate to the cost. (The Newtons blend inconspicuously with the fronts in actual real world movie and music usage, even though they have a different sonic signature and are not in the same league as the Mythos. This is no doubt largely due to the adjustments made by my Pioneer Elite VSX-01TX's MCACC system.)

BTW, I was able to convince my local Magnolia to match the aluminum closeout pricing on the Three, even though I got a black one. I was lucky and found a great deal on a pair of flawless, nearly new floor model STS's at Abt, too.

I noticed the last week of October, many of the on-line authorized Def Tech dealers were marking down the aluminum finish Mythos speakers compared with the black finish.

When I inquired to Def Tech directly, I was told by a Def Tech customer support person that: "The Mythos Two Silvers are discontinued", which he implied was the reason for the discount.

I do not know the exact status of the others in the line, and I have also noticed (as you pointed out) the STS and ST lines do not show the aluminum price difference compared to the black.

Subsequently, I have noted that some of these same dealers no longer have some of the aluminum finish Mythos speakers in stock (although I have been successful in getting one dealer to order 3 of the Mythos 8's for me). The discounts for the aluminum finish for the non-ST/STS Mythos speakers persist at this time.

Hope that helps.

(I have read the STS's are very, very nice (Stereophile seemed to love them in their review).)

I bought a closeout pair of Mythos One's in October from 6th Ave locally for <$900 for the pair. They are the silver finish and were in great shape. I don't think they are stocking the silver finish for the One's now. I am using a CLR 2002 for center and SM350's for surrounds - at the moment only have a ProSub80.

BTW, I was able to convince my local Magnolia to match the aluminum closeout pricing on the Three, even though I got a black one. I was lucky and found a great deal on a pair of flawless, nearly new floor model STS's at Abt, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RC1991

I bought a closeout pair of Mythos One's in October from 6th Ave locally for <$900 for the pair.

You guys are killing me! I thought I had got a good deal, but nowhere close to what ya'll are describing. More power to you!

I'd be interested to know what crossovers you are using for your Mythos Ones--DT suggest 80Hz, but some professional reviews have gone lower--any thoughts? What did the Pioneer auto-equalizer set it at?

Also, how hard was it to deal with Magnolia? Do you need to speak to a manager? Reason I ask is that I have a ton of BB gift cards and am thinking about getting a Pio SC-07 there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macfan424

The rest of my HT system consists of a pair of SVS subs controlled by a Velodyne SMS-1 (yielding flat response below 15Hz) and four legacy Cambridge Soundworks Newton speakers in the rear. I remain of mixed mind about "upgrading" the rears to Gem XL's, as I'm unconvinced I'd hear much of an improvement, at least not proportionate to the cost

Interesting that the Cambridge speakers blend so well with the Mythos--I would not have expected that, given the differences in "voice" and woofer/tweeter size. That said, I used to own a CS Emsemble IV system that I loved--amazing sound for the size, and used to enjoy watching people's surprised looks when it played. That company had some amazingly good speakers for the money--glad yours are still going strong!

I'm thinking about putting together links for various useful reviews on Mythos stuff as well as certain posts that list information about the various speakers in the line. Does anyone else think that would be helpful to have in this thread?

I have the Mythos ST's mated to a Mythos TEN center Channel and GEM XL surrounds. Wandering from the folks with the Mythos ST's, what is your level setting for the powered sub-woofer. I have mine set at the 12 o'clock position. I had it at the one o'clock position and found the bass to be too much and muddied up the sound.

I have the Mythos ST's mated to a Mythos TEN center Channel and GEM XL surrounds. Wandering from the folks with the Mythos ST's, what is your level setting for the powered sub-woofer. I have mine set at the 12 o'clock position. I had it at the one o'clock position and found the bass to be too much and muddied up the sound.

...I'm thinking about putting together links for various useful reviews on Mythos stuff as well as certain posts that list information about the various speakers in the line. Does anyone else think that would be helpful to have in this thread?

I had the same thought. Yes, I think those kinds of links improve any thread like this.

My suggestion would be to incorporate them into your initial post so they are easy for people to find.

I'd be interested to know what crossovers you are using for your Mythos Ones--DT suggest 80Hz, but some professional reviews have gone lower--any thoughts? What did the Pioneer auto-equalizer set it at?

It set mine to 80Hz which is where I left it. Also set them to large, but I changed them to small so that I could use the sub for music. I have gone to pure direct for music at times and the bass response from the One's alone is pretty good, but probably not as low as the specs would suggest. They are very nice sounding speakers though.

I have the Mythos ST's mated to a Mythos TEN center Channel and GEM XL surrounds. Wandering from the folks with the Mythos ST's, what is your level setting for the powered sub-woofer. I have mine set at the 12 o'clock position. I had it at the one o'clock position and found the bass to be too much and muddied up the sound.

As otk said, there is no one size fits all answer. It's very room and placement dependent, even if you remove personal preferences from the equation (i.e. calibrate for flat response).

FWIW, the DefTech recommended 1:00 setting turned out to be perfect in my room. I always try to calibrate bass as flat as possible using both an SPL meter and SMS-1. Based on a reviewer's comment, I had initially trimmed my STS's amp down to 11:00, but that resulted in a very weak response in my setup. I moved it up to 12:00, but it was still lacking. At 1:00, it not only measures well on my SPL meter, my SMS-1 analyzer shows a nearly perfect (flat) response down to ~30Hz.

I've been considering a setup with four Mythos Gems, Mythos Seven center and a SCIII. Has anyone heard something like this? My alternative would be the Pro Cinema line, some mix of 800s and 1000s, which would be cheaper. I'd probably still go with the SCIII with those instead of the Pro Sub. Unfortunately, I live in Africa and don't have access to a listening room without jumping on an airplane.

My point of reference is an old set of Bose 301s (which I'm fairly happy with for stereo), Bose VCS-10 center (awful), and Bose 100 surrounds (also awful). No Sub. I really have no idea what kind of sound to expect from the different Definitive lines. Of course, no one can tell me what I would like, but I'd love to hear personal opinions.

Also what does it do to the Mythos Gem sound if you set it on a bookshelf?

Hi, all:
Posted some links to professional reviews, some links to pictures of Mythos home theaters, and a bit of info in the first message of this thread. If you have any links, topic, etc, you think would be useful to add, please PM me.

Thanks for contributing to the thread, and I hope you find it helpful.

Hi, all:
Posted some links to professional reviews, some links to pictures of Mythos home theaters, and a bit of info in the first message of this thread. If you have any links, topic, etc, you think would be useful to add, please PM me.

Thanks for contributing to the thread, and I hope you find it helpful.

The January 2009 edition of Sound & Vision contains a very favorable review of a Mythos STS system, including the Nine (center) and Gems (rear):

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sound & Vision

"Bottom line: ...Mythos STS... is one of the best values going in high-end speakers... dynamic, full range performance... clean, coherent, detailed sound ... Combined with the... Mythos Nine and... a pair of Gems, it all adds up to a... seriously kick-ass system."

The review doesn't seem to be on their website yet, probably because the print edition is still on sale.

Regarding the post: "The +/- 3dB for the Mythos One is approx. 70Hz-20kHz" referenced in your update, mvp2005fan, the new (much improved) DefTech website now includes recommended crossover points for each of their speakers. They recommend a 60Hz crossover for the Mythos One. Since the crossover is generally recommended to be somewhat above the -3dB point, it's likely that the One reaches closer to 50Hz or so.

My hypothetical rule of thumb for DefTech low frequency response is that the useful limit of any of their speakers is about twice the frequency claimed (i.e. ~ one octave higher).

These measurements were taken with a microphone placed 1 meter away
from the front of the speakers (which were placed on the floor). There
was no reflective sound from the walls. However, there was a sound
reflection from the floor.

I have Two's up front along with a Three and Gem XL's in the rear. Thanks for the reply.

Bothik,
That's the same setup that I'm looking at. Are you happy with it or would you do anything different if you had it to do over again?
What sub are you running and do you think a Denon 1909 would drive the mythos well?
Gary

I am planning on hooking up my Mythos STS as fronts with speaker wire only, and setting the pair as "large". I will not be using the LFE input.

But then I was reading the Mythos STS manual and saw this:

Using Multi-Channel SACD or DVD-Audio with your Mythos STS

Because of the nature of their bass management systems, a multi-channel SACD player or DVD-Audio player (or any other format that requires using 6-channel interconnects) requires the use of an LFE connection between your receiver or processor and your Mythos STS. If you are using one of these players, please use the connection method outlined in the “Connecting the Low Frequency Effects (LFE) Channel” section.

I'm not even sure what SACD and DVD-Audio is. I'll be streaming multichannel DTS-HD from my ps3... will this be affected?

I guess I'm asking if it's necessary to use the LFE inputs, or will speaker wire be sufficient for 5.1 and DTS-HD.

I am planning on hooking up my Mythos STS as fronts with speaker wire only, and setting the pair as "large". I will not be using the LFE input.

But then I was reading the Mythos STS manual and saw this:

Using Multi-Channel SACD or DVD-Audio with your Mythos STS

Because of the nature of their bass management systems, a multi-channel SACD player or DVD-Audio player (or any other format that requires using 6-channel interconnects) requires the use of an LFE connection between your receiver or processor and your Mythos STS. If you are using one of these players, please use the connection method outlined in the Connecting the Low Frequency Effects (LFE) Channel section.

I'm not even sure what SACD and DVD-Audio is. I'll be streaming multichannel DTS-HD from my ps3... will this be affected?

I guess I'm asking if it's necessary to use the LFE inputs, or will speaker wire be sufficient for 5.1 and DTS-HD.

I'm sure you'll be OK being that you running your STS LARGE, are you using a Subwoofer?
SACD and DVD-A are HI Resolution music, Multi Channel that were abandoned by some CE companies.
I still buy it when ever I get my hands on some great deals, but that's nether here or there.
When I had my ST, I use the LFE input but notice no real improvement over the lower region.
I would have rather some kind of biwire or a chance to disengage the bass amp all together

Regarding the post: "The +/- 3dB for the Mythos One is approx. 70Hz-20kHz" referenced in your update, mvp2005fan, the new (much improved) DefTech website now includes recommended crossover points for each of their speakers. They recommend a 60Hz crossover for the Mythos One. Since the crossover is generally recommended to be somewhat above the -3dB point, it's likely that the One reaches closer to 50Hz or so.

My hypothetical rule of thumb for DefTech low frequency response is that the useful limit of any of their speakers is about twice the frequency claimed (i.e. ~ one octave higher).

I'm sure you'll be OK being that you running your STS LARGE, are you using a Subwoofer?
SACD and DVD-A are HI Resolution music, Multi Channel that were abandoned by some CE companies.
I still buy it when ever I get my hands on some great deals, but that's nether here or there.
When I had my ST, I use the LFE input but notice no real improvement over the lower region.
I would have rather some kind of biwire or a chance to disengage the bass amp all together

Djoel

I'll only be using the built-in subwoofers from the STS. I guess I'll try initially hooking up without the LFE and see how things go from there. I doubt I'll ever use SACD or DVD-A.

I am planning on hooking up my Mythos STS as fronts with speaker wire only, and setting the pair as "large". I will not be using the LFE input.

But then I was reading the Mythos STS manual and saw this:

Using Multi-Channel SACD or DVD-Audio with your Mythos STS

Because of the nature of their bass management systems, a multi-channel SACD player or DVD-Audio player (or any other format that requires using 6-channel interconnects) requires the use of an LFE connection between your receiver or processor and your Mythos STS. If you are using one of these players, please use the connection method outlined in the “Connecting the Low Frequency Effects (LFE) Channel” section.

I'm not even sure what SACD and DVD-Audio is. I'll be streaming multichannel DTS-HD from my ps3... will this be affected?

I guess I'm asking if it's necessary to use the LFE inputs, or will speaker wire be sufficient for 5.1 and DTS-HD.

Assuming you are using HDMI to carry your audio, it's not necessary to use the STS's LFE inputs when listening to DTS-HD. As long as you have set your receiver to subwoofer "off" or "no", it will route the LFE frequencies to any speakers set to "Large."

If you are using the analog inputs on your receiver, you would have to use an LFE connection as most receivers offer no bass management for these inputs (a few BD and DVD players have some sort of rudimentary bass management for their analog outputs, but I don't know if the PS3 is one of them).

The reason for the specific mention of SACD and DVD-Audio is that few players output those signals over HDMI, and few receivers accept them, so the vast majority of SACD users must use the receiver's analog inputs, which bypass the receiver bass management functions. (There are exceptions, like my Oppo 981 and Pioneer Elite VSX-01, but they remain in a minority.)

Of course, since you don't know what SACD and DVD-A are, the whole matter is moot for you. Your STS's will do all you want them to without the LFE connection.